Vietnam boosts institutional reforms to lure Japanese investment

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam will push ahead
with institutional and legal reforms and increase its transparency in line with
international practices to attract Japanese investment in the coming time, said
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong in a recent
interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency.

The move is expected to help Vietnam promote its
advantages of a dynamic growing economy, a potential consumption market, a
strategic manufacturing location, and an important link in the global value
chain, he said.

Implementing the policy of active international
economic integration, Vietnam has signed 12 new-generation free trade
agreements (FTAs) and is undertaking negotiations to ink other important deals
in the time ahead, he added.

This creates favourable conditions for foreign
investors, including those from Japan, to carry out major projects in Vietnam,
especially in the fields of their strength such as high technology and
infrastructure.

Vietnam has continuously worked with Japan via
special dialogue channels to address difficulties and seek solutions to improve
the business environment and increase bilateral investment cooperation, he
said.

Such dialogue mechanisms as Vietnam-Japan common
initiative; policy dialogue of Keidanren (Japan Business Federation),
Vietnam-Keidanren economic dialogue; and policy dialogue between Vietnam’s
Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (JCCI) are being effectively carried out and hailed by the Japanese
business community, he noted.

A number of margin activities have been held on
the occasion of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s official visit to Japan to
attend the 23rd International Conference on the Future of Asia from June 4-8 to
promote trade and investment between the two countries, he said.

The PM talked with representatives from Japanese
big companies and had dialogues with Keidanren and entrepreneurs in Kansai
region, he added.

From which, it could be said that the PM’s
ongoing visit to Japan has received special attention from Japanese businesses,
he said, hoping that the flow of Japanese investment will strongly increase in
the coming time to live up to the expectations of the two countries’ leaders
and people as well as their cooperation potential.

Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic ties in
1973. Since then the bilateral cooperation has been incessantly increased
across trade, investment and development cooperation.

Japan is currently the biggest supplier of
official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, making up about 30 percent
of total ODA committed to the Southeast Asian country.

Japan is running over 3,400 investment projects
in Vietnam with a total registered capital of nearly 44 billion USD. In the
first five months of 2017, Japanese businesses poured nearly 2 billion USD in
Vietnam. The figure is expected increase in the time to come.

Japan is the fourth biggest trade partner of
Vietnam after the US, the EU, and China.

Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) has
contributed to establishing some key industrial sectors in Vietnam such as
telecommunication, oil and gas mining and processing, electronics, and
information technology.

According to a survey conducted by the Japan
External Trade Organization (JETRO) in 2016, up to 60 percent of Japanese
businesses revealed their plan to expand investment in Vietnam.-VNA